This post on Our All-American 4th of July with Toyota is sponsored by my awesome friends at Toyota. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Our family is a funny one. Considering both Mathew and I work from home, many times we get so used to our day-to-day routine that we forget to celebrate smaller holidays until the day of and then we’re scrambling to find something to do. I’ve been really making it a point lately to plan things ahead of time for our holidays though so it’s not just another day for us. In the past, 4th of July has been a day where we maybe have a small BBQ at the house and then see fireworks at night. This year, we decided to go all out with our all-American 4th of July with Toyota!
I found out a few days before 4th of July that our town was having a little parade. I had no idea what to expect from it and asked Mathew if he would like for us to go. Surely enough, he was down for it! Toyota dropped off a beautiful 2018 Blue Streak colored Camry XSE with a Midnight Black metallic roof and rear spoiler for our family to enjoy. It was the perfect blue to complement the 4th of July and was super festive! We packed up the trunk with Addie’s massive stroller, our new Toyota lunchbox with LaCroix, 3 Dick’s Sporting Goods camping chairs, and filled the car with 2 car seats, Addie’s vent, her suction machine, 2 oxygen tanks, the 4 of us, and Addie’s awesome nurse. It was a little bit of a tight squeeze from the car seats and Addie’s equipment, but we were still excited! Any normal family would do fantastic in a car this size- it really is a great full size car! But as you all know, Addie requires someone in the back at all times, and that’s not always easy with 2 car seats in the back at the same time. I will say though, I was so pleased at how easy it was to move the kids’ car seats into the Camry XSE. It has the LATCH system so putting the car seats took less than a minute a piece. Had this mama grateful because it was hot out! Anyway, we put the panoramic glass roof with power moon roof down and headed to the 4th of July parade!
We had a blast at the 4th of July parade. My friend Meg so sweetly offered to let us park by her parent’s house, which is on the street that the parade follows. We had the perfect front row seat, were covered by big ash trees, and had the perfect view as the firetrucks, jeeps, and other people came by! My favorite memory from it all was when I was teaching Addie to wave to the people passing by, and she started doing it on her own! Everyone loved her and threw her lots of candy. Lawson enjoyed himself too and behaved so well for his very first 4th of July parade. I was so glad.
After the parade was over, we packed up all of our stuff and got ready to host an all-American 4th of July BBQ with family and a couple friends. Can I just say how awesome it was to have the back up camera and bird’s eye view camera on it?! Getting out of where we parked was a little tight, and it made it so much easier! I felt super fancy, haha. Toyota was amazing and also sent us $200 for decorations and groceries, and we got the works! On the menu were baby back ribs, charro beans, fresh grilled corn on the cob, zucchini, and an angel food cake trifle. I had the beans simmering most of the day and Mathew seasoned the ribs JUST right. Talk about yummy! We decked out the dining room and living room with fun, festive 4th of July decorations and were glad to have everyone over. The kids were happy, we had good company, and the food was delicious.
Because we’re a family with a new baby, we’re still pretty strict on bedtimes right now. We skipped out on 4th of July fireworks because we didn’t want to fight the crowds, Lawson finally has figured out that 7:45 is a reasonable time to start his bedtime, and Addie’s nurse comes at 8 pm. Still, with full bellies and warm hearts, we happily missed the fireworks to enjoy being at home together. I am so grateful that Toyota gave us this push to go out and have an incredible all-American 4th of July when we probably would’ve just phoned it in and just stayed at home and watched movies. Making memories with my family is something I cherish. I love memorizing how Mathew looks at the kids when they’re full of joy during holidays, the words people say when they compliment the delicious food we’ve made, and just how much happiness it brings me. I am so blessed to have these 3 in my life. Toyota- you’re the bomb for helping us make this happen. Truly.
I also want to add, if you’re a family of 1-4, I highly suggest looking at the 2018 Toyota Camry XSE. It had so many family-centric features that I loved like the LATCH, 10 airbags, the amazing rear view and birds eye cameras, seats that could be cleaned easily, a blind spot monitor so you can be a more prepared driver with the kids in the car, and of course bluetooth phone and voice command so you can drive more safely. Not only that, but holy freaking fuel economy! I not only drove the car around on the 4th but I had it for 12 days! In those 12 days I went all OVER the place and I only used up 3/4 of the tank of gas. I kept telling everyone how surprised I was that I never had to fill it up.
